Antimicrobial Resistance & Stewardship

Data suggests that since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increased prevalence of antimicrobial resistant infections and increases in healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). A recent study shows an alarming incidence of multidrug-resistant candidiasis in COVID-19 patients, which carries high morbidity and mortality rates. With this increasing prevalence of resistant infections, the utilization of surveillance tools such as whole genome sequencing (WGS) are critical in preventing the spread of these infections.

She was 25 and had no idea of what Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) was before her car accident. Here is her story.

WHO has published, for the first time, a list of 40 priority research topics aimed at speeding up the implementation of concrete measures on a global scale. A roadmap that gives great importance to diagnostics.

“A key to helping patients live even that long—a vast improvement from an average lifespan of 10 years just decades ago—is judicious use of antibiotics,” explains Andrea Hahn, M.D., a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at Children’s National Health System in Washington D.C.

Viruses frequently cause lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) in adults. Physicians often treat those infections with antibiotics because there is not enough immediately-available information to gauge whether a patient may have a viral or a bacterial infection. Unnecessary exposure to antibiotics can be harmful to patients, and it also contributes to the development of antimicrobial resistance.